"Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist." Ned Rorem

"Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows." John Betjeman

Many of us yearn to return to that time in our lives when the world was about pure play, pushing boundaries and hanging out with friends. The Victorians and Edwardians idealised the childish imagination, endlessly exploring its innocent pleasures in painting, poety and art. These days our enjoyment of the subject has been tainted by a paedophile-hungry media breeding suspicious minds.